Fault Them For Flourishing
by AkumaXHwaorang
Summary: No longer a One-Shot. This is a collection of moments between Shino and Kiba showing their relationship and how it grows over time. Shounen-ai in some chapters with flashbacks, Yaoi in current chapters. But nothing heavy. Shino/Kiba.
1. Chapter 1

Fault Them For Flourishing

Shino thought it rather convenient for himself to be born into Konoha. The vegetation was simply exquisite for a plethora of specimens for him and his clan. He began to think of the other villages and how difficult it must be for them to find decent insects to examine, He thought them to be some of the most unfortunate people.

He couldn't think them completely disenchanted, as they did have an easier time getting specimens that he himself thought rare. Kiri had the water moths, who only created their nests in very wet areas and relied on an ability to sleep in water without drowning. Iwa had the rock beetle whose hard jagged body made it able to burrow into the side of cliffs. Kumo with its cloud flies who were so light they could rest on the clouds and then Suna with the sand hornet who built their hives in the dunes themselves. No, he could not consider them completely unlucky.

Something to the left caught his eye. Unbelievably it was a grass mosquito, which was only found in Kusa. They rarely came to Konoha since the grass never grew tall enough for them to ever get accustomed to it, no they loved tall grass to latch on to ninjas or animals as they ran by and to jump back off when they had their fill.

It was flying toward him and landed on his left hand. He slowly reached to into his jacket pocket to get a jar to catch the creature. Ever so slowly he inched his hand into his pocket and grabbed the container, bringing it out at an even slower pace. He had to be quick in this next step, where he caught the mosquito. He was about to slam the jar down when…

'WHACK'

A third hand smacked onto the rarity ending his short lived excitement. He followed the hand up a gray jacket sleeve up to the smiling mug of his teammate Kiba.

"Whew, that thing was massive man, good thing I came along or you would dying from blood loss right now!" His friend said thinking that he had done well.

"Kiba" Shino said in his monotone, "why would you kill an insect on me when you know that enjoy their company?"

"…"

What an intelligent response from his usually rambunctious friend.

"…"

Kiba probably thought that he could outlast him in a silence contest, though Shino would not compete in one, but he thought that he would win.

"I…um…it was a… re…flex?" He said with a questioning tone.

"You destroy incredibly difficult to find insects…reflexively?"

"Well no… but I thought it was just a mosquito." He said pleadingly.

Shino go up from his sitting position and started walking back toward the village.

"Oi!" Kiba yelled after his friend. "Shino, come on, everyone hates mosquitos and they are terrible this time of year!" He yelled trying to reason with his friend.

Shino kept his steady pace getting farther and farther away from Kiba.

Having enough of it Kiba decided to chase after him and try to apologize. It was harder than he thought catching up to Shino, honestly who knew that he could _walk_ so fast. When he finally cought up to him he grabbed his sleeve and spun him around and said once again,

"Come on, everyone hates mosquitos, they suck blood and there are millions of them!" He said desperately trying to get through to his friend.

"Can you fault them for coming out when they flourish?" He asked seriously.

"Do we not do the same? We come out more often during particular seasons, and we are a social species who tend to congregate together in large numbers." He explained.

"Tell me, what is the difference between us and them?" He asked Kiba.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"We don't suck." Kiba said childishly while pouting.

He saw that Shino was shaking, and thinking it was with rage, Kiba backed away slowly. He wondered if his friend would sick his bugs on him, or maybe he would just beat him with his fists.

Kiba waited

… and waited

…and waited

Finally looking towards his friend he saw that he was a good distance away. Kiba then realized that it was not anger that the Aburame was shaking with, but laughter. Kiba had actually gotten his stoic friend to laugh. Kiba was so proud he didn't give chase immediately, though once he got over himself he dashed after his comrade.

"So, what were you doing out here anyway Shino?" Kiba asked cautiously.

"I was simply enjoying the assortment of possible specimens to bring back to my home." Shino said honestly.

"Sorry, I killed the super rare mosquito of yours." Kiba apologized.

"Don't worry Kiba, I already a small colony of them in my home from the previous years." Shino stated offhandedly.

A dumbfounded look came across Kiba's face as he processed that sentence.

"Then why did you get pissed when I killed the blood sucker?!" Kiba yelled at the confusing bug enthusiast.

"I didn't yell." Shino stated. "I merely asked a philosophical question, to which you gave an immature response."

"If it's so immature than why did you laugh mister high-brow?" Kiba asked thinking he had his friend.

"I did not laugh, I only coughed." Shino pointed out. "And even if I did laugh, why do you act so amazed? I am human, and I do experience joy."

"Whatever." Kiba said exhaustedly.

Kiba brightening up suddenly and whipped something out of his pocket.

Much to Shino's surprise it was a glass case. With a wonderful surprise in it.

A Marauding Spider from the Land of Iron, and it was alive.

"Kiba." Shino said quietly. "How did you come across this?"

"I took a trip to the Land of Iron a while ago and have been keeping this guy handy while you were away on your mission." The dog boy said smugly.

"This will go fantastically with the female I have." Shino muttered to himself.

"WHAT!" Kiba screamed incredulously. "Is there ANY bug you DON'T have?"

"I do not have a tree killing ant." Shino said.

"THEN THAT'S WHAT I'M GONNA FIND YOU!" Kiba yelled as he ran to the library to find where the bug originates.

Shino thought about his friend after he had gone. He wished that they could be more but friends would suffice for now. Curse the Aburame silence, he just hoped that the Inuzuka brashness would push Kiba to make the first move, if he felt the same.

Though Shino was happy that his friend tried so hard to get things that he liked, and knowing Kiba he would most likely find a tree killing ant.

That is if they were in season, as they only came during the winter when the trees were weakest.

Six months away.


	2. Chapter 2: The First Meeting

Chapter 2. The First Meeting.

Buzzing was a constant for Shino, since his hive had first inhabited him he heard it. It was so familiar to the usually stoic teen that any change was noticed quickly and examined from every angle to determine whether or not it was good or bad. The many times this happened in the beginning it usually involved decisions about his personal life, or during the academy it would tell him who he should trust. One of these times was on the first day of the academy when he first started. He had woken up that day and heard the buzzing loud in his ears, his kikaichu picking up on his nervousness and anxiety and reacting accordingly, he quickly went through his morning routine, dressing swiftly in a large brown coat with a hood over a long sleeved white shirt, long dark blue pants with standard shinobi sandals, the last object he put on was his glasses, the dark circular eye pieces instantly coating his vision in a dark tint. Though Shino told most that he wore them for the hive he secretly wore them to become like his father Shibi, if any were to look at the two side by side they would swear Shino was simply Shibi in chibi form.

He quickly descended the stairs and came into the kitchen, though something was off. His parents were not up and he noticed that none of his clans people were milling about, it was at this time he decided to look at the clock. In stunned embarrassment he saw that the clock only read 4:30 A.M. which was roughly half an hour before his father would awaken and an hour and a half before he needed to leave for school, as a self-imposed punishment for his mistake he sat at the table waiting for his parents to come and find him. He was not disappointed.

Roughly five minutes before five his father walked into the kitchen, stopping for just a moment as he noticed his son at the table, he sat opposite him at the table, setting some papers down he looked toward his son waiting for him to meet his eyes. Shibi could wait out most, only ever losing to the Third Hokage, and that was after nearly 12 hours of silent Shogi before Shibi had to bid him goodbye, Hiruzen taking it as a win couldn't help but lord it over him. Coming out of his memories he saw his son slowly raise his head and their shade covered eyes met.

"…" Shibi slowly rested his hand on the papers and slid them away from him.

"…" Shino rested his hands in his lap and looked out the window.

It had been somewhere between 15 and 20 minutes of silence though Shibi was reading his small son like an open book. The looking away and hands in the lap showed him the unsureness of his son, the tapping of his fingers showed anxiousness and the slight straightening of his glasses showed self-consciousness. It didn't take a genius to figure out his son was worried about his first day, Shibi would give him another 20 minutes before he spoke as he did need to get work done.

10 minutes later Shino let out a small sigh, though his father did admire the half hour of silence he was able to withstand with him staring at his son, and rested his hand on the table.

"I am worried about the academy father." Shino said softly.

"Hmmm, I figured as much." Shibi slowly let out a beetle which flew to Shino and landed in front of him, Shino letting out one in turn they watched as the bugs examined each other and soon were crawling all across the table in a reminiscent scene of two dogs playing.

"You have nothing to worry about Shino." Shibi spoke comfortingly as he slowly started to read and sign the papers on the table.

"I am worried about how I will be perceived by my peers." Shino said slowly as he relaxed at his father's words, mentally scolding himself about being nervous.

"I had the same worries when I first started at the academy." Shibi briefly remembered the large room filled with teachers and students, shaking his head he released another kikaichu which crawled along Shino's hand, offering some form of comfort.

"How did you handle them?" Shino asked curiously and hopefully.

"My father came with me to the class and said something that encouraged me." Shibi said informatively.

"What did he say?" Shino looked up at his father.

"A colony that doesn't journey outward for food, will never survive." His father said pointedly.

Shino slowly nodded his head as his mother came in, kissing each of them on the cheek as she started cooking up a breakfast. Soon after the meal was done Shino said goodbye to his parents and set off for the academy, trying to remember the message within the saying.

'If I do not seek out social interaction and acceptance than I can never succeed.' The small child thought this over and over before he found himself in front of the school, slowly walking forward he saw some kids running before class, older children were practicing or running laps and some parents arriving with more children. Quickly finding a spot underneath a tree he spotted a small wasps nest in the trees branches, sending out a small insect from his colony he 'conversed' with the insects. Soon his quiet was interrupted by a shouting match from the entrance. Shino was facing away from the yelling and thought it best to not look over.

"GO AWAY NEE-CHAN!" He heard a high pitched voice yell.

"DON'T YOU TALK TO ME THAT WAY RUNT!" A feminine voice yelled back louder before he heard the sounds of struggling and thuds of punches and slaps before the yelling started again.

"FINE! JUST BE HOME FOR DINNER!" The female voice yelled before he heard the noises of the child making faces at her, thinking it over Shino went back to the wasps. Not paying attention he didn't notice the boy come over and drop himself on the other side of the tree mumbling about stupid girls and punching too hard. Shino slowly turned his head around the tree and saw a boy with small triangular marks on his cheeks in a parka and shorts. Shino observed a little before he heard the buzzing again, for what reason he didn't know and soon began investigating, maybe something had happened to the wasps? He looked up and found them fine so that wasn't it. He looked around to see if there were any threats and found none before he realized the boy around the tree was causing it and the buzzing was not negative but positive and curious. Remembering his fathers words he decided to act on this and spoke to the brunette.

"Hello." He said in his soft monotone.

"Gah!" The boy fell over and rolled away before looking at him confused.

"Ah…sorry about that. I didn't hear you come over here." The boy scratched his head and smiled embarrassed.

"That makes sense since you came here after me." The bespectacled boy said matter-of-factly.

The dog-like boy blushed at again being corrected before stretching out his hand.

"I'm Inuzuka Kiba! Nice to meet you." His smile was so big his eyes closed as he waited for the handshake.

Shino slowly took the hand and shook softly. "I'm Aburame Shino. It is nice to meet you Inuzuka-san." An Inuzuka would explain why he looked feral and the brawling, knowing what he did of other clans, the Inuzuka were known for bluntness and brashness, along with physical strength and tracking.

"Inuzuka-san? Don't be so formal Shino-kun, just call me Kiba." Did he just add the suffix kun? They have only known each other at most 5 minutes and already honorifics.

"If its okay with you Kiba…kun." He didn't know why but the title made his face feel hot, luckily his hood hiding his blush for the moment.

"There ya go, so you're part of the bug clan right?" Kiba asked innocently curious about his new friend.

"Not bugs, kikaichu." Shino corrected. "But yes I am the heir to the clan."

"What? No way! I'm the heir to the Inuzuka!" Kiba lightly punched Shino's shoulder realizing the similarity.

Before they could continue they heard their teacher Iruka call them to the doors, Kiba grabbed Shino's hand and dragged him along quickly not wanting to be late. Shino let him, realizing he didn't mind if the other boy touched him.

The first day was nerve wracking for Shino but he realized that he enjoyed the academy, he had made some contact with some other kids but the biggest success was with Kiba. The boy seemed to always be happy and full of energy. 'Almost as much as Uzumaki-san.' Shino thought absentmindedly. The boy dragged him everywhere and challenged whenever he could to outlandish competitions. During lunch an eating contest was suggested but Shino opted out as Kiba, Naruto and Choji ate out the cafeteria. Kiba came in last with Choji winning, though none were able to move afterwards.

Shino decided he liked the boy and wanted to be friends with him near the end of lunch. They were outside waiting for time to be over and just relaxing in the sun when Kiba jumped up and ran in a direction, Shino didn't mind, he probably had some energy to burn. What he didn't expect was for Kiba to come back with a small monarch butterfly on his finger, holding it to Shino.

"I caught this…for…you…" Kiba panted as the flying bug was apparently very good at evading him.

Shino stuck out his finger, the monarch hearing the buzzing of his hive crawled on and was met by a few drone beetles, examining the new specimen.

"Thank you Kiba-kun." This blush refused to stay quiet as he let the butterfly go where it wanted, which happened to be the top of his hood. Kiba snickering softly at the scene, Shino found that this was his first non-related friend. The buzzing grew louder and it seemed as if butterflies were in his stomach.

The day ended too soon for Shino and Kiba and they were soon separated by their respectful parents. Shibi took notice of his sons small smile and positive hive activity and deemed this a success as his son's first day, not hearing Kiba talk his sisters ear off about his '_new friend from the bug house!'_.

Late that night after dinner, both of the small boys were in their rooms, each with a smile on their face as Kiba was trying to juggle wooden kunai and Shino was reading a book on the Inuzuka he had checked out from the library. Each thinking what they learned tonight would make their new friend happy tomorrow. Eventually both grew tired after the taxing day and laid down to sleep. Though they didn't know it they were both thinking about their friend and how they could still feel the others hand.

What pleased Kiba and confused Shino was that they each wanted to hold the others hand again and for even longer.

"Goodnight Shino-kun." Kiba muttered as he fell asleep hoping to make his quiet friend smile with his juggling.

"Goodnight Kiba-kun." Shino sighed as he went over the interesting facts about the Inuzuka, hoping to make his energetic and bright friend even happier with the things he had learned.

**So this was the second chapter of Fault Them For Flourishing. I didn't know if I wanted to do another chapter after the first but I think I might continue this for a few more chapters, maybe doing one from the people's around them P.O.V. but that's off in the future. **

**Hope you guys like it and don't forget to read and review. I cannot grow without criticism. **

**Thanks for reading, **

**AkumaXHwaorang**


	3. A Realization A Conundrum

A Realization. A Conundrum.

**A/N: This chapter is a little different from the first two. I figured I would cover how both Shino and Kiba come to the base realization that they like each other, not fully realizing that they love each other since they are still young, but they do know that they do…you'll find out. :3 Happy Reading! **

Shino was…perturbed. If that was a good word for it, maybe confused would be better. He couldn't figure out his feelings towards Kiba and at the young age of 10 it confused the boy greatly. The Inuzuka boy had been clouding his thoughts for several weeks now and when he brought it up to his father, he only chuckled and left the boy to think on it by himself. Shino wasn't paranoid, but he thought that his father knew something he didn't, and it irked him.

He decided that maybe a walk around the village would help with his thinking, fresh air and external stimuli. As he walked he noticed the Naruto boy running around with some chuunin chasing after him, what was strange that the chuunin looked to be covered in feathers. He figured it was a prank and went on with his day, still muddled about Kiba. He came upon a park, seeing smaller children running around and some elderly playing shogi, along with the Nara boy with Choji watching clouds again. He thought about it for a time and found that he would like to watch clouds with Kiba, so were they friends like Shikamaru and Choji? No, it felt like more than that.

He went farther into the park and found a couple sitting on a bench, the girl laying face up on the man's legs sleeping softly, the boy sleeping as well with his chin on his chest, wondering to himself he found that he wouldn't mind doing that with Kiba either, he felt comfortable enough with him and if Kiba was calm enough they could sit and think in peace, it sounded nice. But still he thought that it was more. He glanced back at the couple and caught them sharing a quick kiss, blushing softly he hurried forward towards a training ground, trying to put the thought out of his mind, that he wouldn't mind kissing Kiba either.

He sat down and thought hard for a time before coming to accept that he would like to kiss Kiba, but how could he? He didn't know how Kiba would react, didn't know when or if they would be alone, this required more planning…

That is until a certain dog like boy came crashing through the tree line, into the center of the training ground rolling around with a large white dog. This may not be so hard after all.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

(1 hour earlier with Kiba)

Kiba was running, not from anything or to anywhere but just running for fun. He loved the wind on his face and the feeling of his dog running next to him, but inside he was a little befuddled. For several days he had been thinking of a certain stoic friend of his, not about anything in particular but more of just thinking about how he felt towards the taller boy. He like hanging out with him, he liked training with him, heck he could even enjoy studying with the bug-boy.

This wasn't a bad thing by any means, but the thing that confused him was that he could not do that with anyone else, Hinata was fine but he still couldn't conenctrate and if Naruto sat still for a moment than Kiba would bounce off the walls and with anyone else he just wouldn't do anything. Shino on the other hand somehow kept him calm, explained everything, and made it stick. He would help with his Taijutsu and give him books on Genjutsu, it made Kiba happy that his friend thought about him when he wasn't around, but it also made butterflies in his stomach.

Kiba didn't like the butterflies, it made him think that he was nervous and that made him think of himself as a coward, which forced him to do stupid things to prove that he wasn't. He asked his sister and mother about it and all they did was howl with laughter and pet his head and say 'Aw~ he's growing up~', confusing as everything else he left the house to try and train, maybe he could think of a solution to this out in the training grounds.

Jumping and running around a few minutes later with Akamaru, it made him feel relaxed, he got to thinking about Shino as he practiced some jumping kunai throws. He enjoyed the smell of the older boy, he smelled like nature and water, probably from his insect collecting habits and his cleanliness obsession. He enjoyed it when he hugged the taller boy, he felt safe.

Wait, what? Why did he feel safe? He didn't need to be scared of him, and why did Shino bring out his submissive side? He wasn't submissive, he was always proactive and dominant in his partnerships. Though Shino made him just…calm down. He seemed to make the hole world fade away, and no one judged him based on his intellect, no one called him mangy, Shino was quiet but he was also confident.

He sat there as he looked at the targets, noticing that the targets he was hitting when not thinking about Shino had a few misses and not a lot of bulls-eyes, but the targets he hit when Shino came into his mind, had all connected hits and a lot of bulls-eyes. He sat and scratched his head, he had to acknowledge that Shino was helping him, and that he thought of him as more than a friend. How much more was still in question though, the fact that he liked hugging the other boy was a big sign that it was more and when he slept over at Shino's or camped out with him, he sometimes wanted to sleep closer to him, and his mom said that when you like someone you want to kiss them.

Did he want to kiss Shino? He wouldn't mind it, but the blush on his face let him know that he actually wanted to kiss Shino quite a bit. Kiba stood up and started jumping from branch to branch with Akamaru hot on his tail, he decided then and there that the next time he saw the sunglasses wearing boy, he would run up and kiss him, no dancing around it and he would not be submissive dang it! He was strong, he was an Inuzuka, he should be able to handle another kiss. As he steeled his resolve he lost his footing and came crashing into an open training ground, rolling a couple of times and creating a cloud of dust, he tried to orient himself as he noticed the object of his thoughts sitting just to his left.

For some reason the resolve he had just built up decided now would be a good time to go have lunch because Kiba couldn't quite look at his friend without having a little blush on his cheeks.

Damn it.

(Multi POV)

Shino sat there as he watched the boy who had occupied his thoughts, some kind of luck had to be on his side, but now that he had Kiba here how should he go about it? The kiss still seemed unattainable. He slowly stood up and walked over to Kiba and offered him a hand up hoping the other boy would take it.

Kiba sat on his knees panting a little, looking up he noticed that Shino's hand was outstretched to him, he reached up and grabbed hold, sending a spark through both of their bodies causing Kiba to jerk his hand away a little quickly.

Shino took noticed and wondered what was wrong with him.

"Kiba, are you alright?" He asked calmly.

"Y-Yeah just a little jumpy after the fall." He cursed himself for stuttering but straightened himself up and dusted himself off.

"How did you fall? You're usually very good on your feet." Shino inquired.

"Too busy thinking, shows what I get for using this." Kiba joked while bonking the side of his head.

Shino grabbed the hand to stop him. "You should always use your head Kiba-kun, you're smart and don't let anyone tell you otherwise." Shino said sternly.

Kiba blushed a little at the –kun, and thought it was either now or never and scratched behind his ears before turning to face Shino but Shino was already there, pressing his lips to Kiba's. It wasn't anything more than just a collision of lips for a few seconds but it still made the butterflies come back tenfold. Releasing each other, they each took a step back and didn't say a word until Kiba got the courage.

"Why did you kiss me Shino-kun?" Kiba asked quietly.

"…It was an…experiment…" Shino trailed off not sure how Kiba would take it.

Kiba let out a sigh before putting on a grin. "Oh~ okay, it didn't mean anything."

"Well I…" Shino tried to correct him but Kiba was already walking away.

"For a second there I thought you were going crazy Shino~" Kiba wouldn't let out that he wanted Shino to kiss him again, not if it was just an experiment.

Shino stood motionlessly, ignoring the little pain in his chest at Kibas reaction. Maybe it was for the best to never bring it up again, the same thoughts passing through Kibas head as they headed in different direction, waving weakly.

"See ya tomorrow Shino." Kiba called out.

"Don't be late for school again Kiba." Shino replied softly, knowing Kiba would hear.


End file.
